Cain Piotrowski wins TORA TCF TASCAR Daytona 300 on his return to the series

Cain Piotrowski has won the TORA TCF TASCAR season-opening Daytona 300 after persevering through a chaotic race. A mixture of technical glitches and huge wrecks struck the first lobby of sixteen drivers, with the race coming down to a near-twenty-lap sprint to the finish with a hugely reshuffled grid order of eSports racing drivers.

At the start of the race, pole-sitter James Chamberlin took an early lead in his LMP Motorsport Toyota Camry. His fellow front-row partner, Monty Totten, settled into second, but a collision between the pair sent Totten spinning down the order. Chamberlin would lose a handful of positions on the race restart soon after, with Ben Williams having a sensational start to move from seventh on the grid to the lead with help from fellow Allied Forces team-mate Alex Porter.

Williams would hold the lead for a large portion of the early running, but after the first round of green flag pit-stops, both Williams and Porter spun whilst trying to get off of pit-road on the apron of turns one and two. Technical issues would strike all the competitors after the first pit-stops, which led to a brief red flag to rectify the problems. Thankfully the race was able to get back underway soon after with usual service resuming.

In the closing stages, a fast pit-stop got Jordan Groves out into the lead of the race, closely followed by the man that he tied with in the championship standings last season; Totten in the SOMF Motorsport Ford. Monty had managed to work his way back through the field after his early issues and was now right on the bumper of Groves for the lead in a two-car breakaway.

The two-car tandem for the lead was soon disrupted by a lapped car. Groves went to the outside of the car to try and get by, but he could not hold his momentum on the outside line. This allowed Totten to fill the gap on the inside line to put the battle for the lead side-by-side. The pair got too close and made contact, sending both into a spin that would trigger a late caution. Totten managed to hold on to his position, but Groves was well down the order and out of contention.

Groves and Totten’s collision allowed Piotrowski to take the lead of the race in the Allied Forces No Fear Camry. Once in the lead, Cain would not look back. He managed to hold on to his lead through another huge wreck and a late-race recovery drive from Totten to take a sensational victory. Cain, a series veteran from years ago, took a few seasons off to race elsewhere. This race marked his return to the series where he had previously taken three race wins. His first race back would see him add one more win to that tally.

Credit: Jordan Groves / Forza Motorsport 7

Totten would finish right on the back-bumper of Piotrowski to take second place; a strong start to a season where he hopes to go from championship runner-up to championship winner. Third place would go the way of Callum Hawkins in the #100 Kaido HCR Ford. Hawkins was able to keep largely out of trouble during the race. This paid dividends toward the end of the race where he was left in a strong position.

James Norman ran a superb race to take fourth place on his TORA TCF TASCAR debut. He put his #644 Norman Racing privateer entry just ahead of fifth-placed Tabari Curry in the #259 Ultimate Autosport Camry. Norman wasn’t the only strong placed rookie, with Alex Brown taking sixth place in his first race in the MidNight Racing Chevrolet.

Spenser Madden completed a strong recovery drive in the final portion of the race. He had been trapped a lap down until a well-timed caution put him back on the lead lap. He then managed to keep his nose clean during an ensuing wreck, with the #532 Madden Racing Ford managed to finish the race in seventh; just ahead of the recovering #1 Allied Forces car of Groves and the #63 Remnant Racing car of Eric McCluskey – both of whom will have been hoping for a much better result considering their pace earlier in the race.

Ben Williams was able to recover from his early spin to take tenth. His cause was aided by great team-work with fellow Allied Forces driver, Travis Johannes, who finished eleventh. Zechariah Craig took twelfth in his Gforce Racing privateer Toyota ahead of John McFadden in the #500 car. Alex Porter and James Chamberlin completed the list of finishers from A-Lobby, with the polesitter Chamberlin leaving Daytona with another unlucky result.

A-Lobby had comprised of sixteen drivers, but an early race retirement from John Maltais in the Kaido HCR car meant that sixteenth place in the race went to the victor of B-Lobby. Ted Tooker was the victor of the second lobby of sixteen drivers, thus putting his Swordfish Motorsports car into the top sixteen at the end of the race.

The next round of the TORA TCF TASCAR season takes place in two weeks time at Road America. If you’re interested in signing up for this championship, run on Forza Motorsport 7 for Xbox One, please visit The Online Racing Association for more information.